a) Worm Tunes
A visual music synthesizer, inspired by the amazing Patatap. Users can draw their musical “worms” on their phones. Shapes and curves would be translated into sound and then plugged to the last segment of the collective worm. The final result would be a collective piece of music and drawing.

b) Help the Tribe
A Lemmings-like game. Users control virtual bars from their phones and should help the “tribe” — a bunch of rolling balls or polygons — overcome the obstacles and reach the final goal.

We’ve finally linked the sketch to the motion sensors — Thanks a collective effort from the hardware team!
The central particles are now responding to an average motion measured from the wrist bands. The plan is to have the percussionist wearing one of these.
This is the Irish group Crash Ensemble performing the song we’re working on:

So, to test the wrist band, Julie mimicked the percussionist’s movement on the performance above:

We also added a video footage of fog, because we’ve found the song’s textures evocative of that image. The idea is to gradually increase the video opacity as the song goes.
Thanks to Angelica Jang, who helped us edit the video!
The project so far looks like this (with Julie playing the percussionist):

First sketches for the piece “Ciel Étoile,” to be performed by the New World Symphony on March 9.
The project is being developed as an Independent Study with the NWS, coordinated by Joe Saavedra and Ed Keller.
In collaboration with Brendan Byrne and Namreta Kumar (hardware), Madhava Tankha, Bernardo Schorr, and Julie Huynh (software).

IdeaFrom the Irish group Crash Ensemble page: “The piece consists of 36 bars. Each bar is a ‘star’: a unique sound object, played in perfect unison with great concentration. The gestures of the two musicians should always be calm and rehearsed, as in a ritual.”
Because of that, we thought that a minimalistic approach to the visuals could fit better the song. The song textures reminded us of fog too, so we may add that to the next version.

2. PrecedentThe idea for the game actually came from a locker. I have one at Parsons and every Friday I have to pick up my pComp stuff and open it. That’s why it was my main inspiration for the project.

3. Development
3.a. Board PrototypeFirst, I assembled the circuit on the breadboard, to check all components, code, timing and game dynamics.

3.b. Enclosure PrototypeAfter searching for a box that would fit in my project, I decided to build one myself. I began by making a cardboard prototype to check the ideal dimensions.One problem I had so far was where to put the knob and the LEDs. My first idea was to put them both facing the user. But that could not work well if the user is above it.By playing with the cardboard prototype I realized that I could solve the problem and stick with my previous idea. I just had to change the box angle, so it could face the user:

3.c. Box PlanBased on the cardboard prototype, I drew the final box plan using Adobe Illustrator:

3.e. Box CuttingI used a laser cutter to make the box pieces and drawings. I had a non-painted backup sheet and I used it to check if everything was ok first:

3.f. WiringI assembled all parts in the main face first — wiring, soldering and then checking with the Arduino board. Only after that I finished assembling the box, with superglue.

4. ConclusionThe hardest part was definitely thinking about the enclosure. I had no idea from where to start. I didn’t know any material possibilities, and a I struggle with that for a long time. I didn’t know for sure if I would use a found box or build my own enclosure.
Soldering and assembling was hard as well. I’ve never done this before, so I asked a lot of friends for help. I didn’t have all the tools I needed — tape, hot glue — and, in the end, I wasn’t satisfied with the result. I may have damaged my potentiometer along the process, too. Even so, I’m glad that the final toy works.

The code was the easiest part. Though I’ve had some challenges along the way, like setting a timer instead of using delay, it wasn’t that difficult.
Understanding the circuit was also pretty easy. I think that we have a good basis of code and basic circuits in this class.

Turns out that building the enclosure wasn’t as hard as I thought. I’m glad I pushed myself into that. It led me to learn more about building physical things, as well as some practical stuff, like using the laser cutter.
Besides, that was first time I went to a physical store to search for electronic supplies. So, another surprise was that I liked it and it was very helpful. I ended up finding a red/green LED that fitted perfect in my project. Before that, I didn’t even know that it existed.

5. A Final NoteExcept for the group assignments, this was the first collaborative project I’ve made at Parsons. Since there was a lot of things that I had no idea about how to do, I had to stay in the school and ask a lot of people for help:
– thanks Brendan Byrne for the enclosure tips and for giving Simão a nose!– thanks Daniel Mastretta for the laser cutter lessons.– thanks Ayodamola Okunseinde and Gabor for the helping with the solder.